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Zhela Voss
=Physical Description= Average build, lean and very fit. Her features are delicate and regular, with only a few faint scars and fine age lines; her eyes are a warm, light shade of brown that appear almost to glow in some lighting. There's no grey in her hair yet, and overall she looks rather younger than she is. Zhela moves with reserve and grace, rarely wasting movements. Her voice is low for a woman's, on the edge of being husky. =Personality= Zhela is almost unfailingly civil and can be quite generous and helpful, but also self-possessed to the point, sometimes, of arrogance, and rarely laughs or smiles. With friends and family, however, she warms considerably, and becomes lighter-hearted and teasing. Deeply passionate, she nonetheless is careful about what - and who - she spends her energy on. =History= Zhela Voss was born Sela Von'Indi to particularly adventurous members of that family. She was born away from the family home in southern Elwynn, and while on the return trip the ship she and her parents were traveling on was caught up in a storm and sank off the coast of Stranglethorn. The survivors of the wreck were all but wiped out by animals, disease, and trolls before they could return to human lands, and by the time the party reached Grand Hamlet all of the members were dying, save Sela, and nobody could give useful information to their caretakers. Zhela - what came from mishearing "Sela" - remembers bits and pieces of the the journey, but not enough to recall her birth name or her parents or to track down information on that ship or her crew, particularly since so much information has been lost over the years. Zhela may have found a home in Grand Hamlet - may even have been reunited with her biological family - had it not been razed by the orcs not long after she arrived. The convalescing girl went with other refugees to Stormwind and then, when Stormwind was also destroyed, north with the other survivors. While living in Lordaeron, a place she quickly came to love despite her situation, she met Abraham and Mercede Voss, arcanists and fellow refugees. The pair were childless, and took Zhela into their care once they found service with the military. By the time they were able to return south, the three had become a family. Both Abraham and Mercede were fascinated by the fel magic the orcs had wielded, and were among the first human arcanists to become warlocks, adamant that they could control such powers without being corrupted by them, determined to bend them in service to humanity. In time, Zhela herself began studying under them, natural aptitude for magic pairing with a single-minded drive to become as powerful as possible to make her into a dedicated student and skilled caster. While she slowly relaxed as her life settled into stability in the years after the wars, that drive never entirely vanished. When Zhela was a teenager, her father found another orphaned girl, Thayani Stillwood, wandering in the Tirisfal Glades, and brought her back to Stormwind. While Zhela's almost irrational protectiveness of her family could have made the situation very difficult, the younger girl aroused her sympathy, and she accepted Thayani as her parents's ward, and eventually as a sister. For years the four of them remained a happy family, until Mercede, not without warning, fell to temptation and corruption and vanished. Zhela, Thayani and their father, stunned and grief-stricken, grew even closer, supporting each other. Abraham almost immediately began searching for his vanished wife, taking ever-longer trips as the girls grew older and were able to look after their home, look for other teachers, and take on active roles in the public family business, Voss Search and Retrieval. Mercede was never found, though rumours of her continued to turn up. Zhela has all but given up hope of seeing her again, though she supports her father's search to the point of assisting him when she can and consoling him when he fails. When old enough to leave home, Zhela began traveling and adventuring, though part of her time was split between Stormwind and Ironforge to help manage the business. She has spent considerable time in the human kingdoms, hiding the specifics and source of her power while contributing to the defense of the people of the Alliance - however, she has for the most part avoided contributing to war with the Horde itself, holding that another such war as they've had already might be the end of all of them. More recent events, especially in Northrend, have led to some rethinking of that stance.